A Digital Bar Mitzvah

Originally posted on the TIFF Nexus site where I'm leading the Youth New Media Literacy Jam.

The Bar Mitzvah in Jewish culture represents the moment when a 13 year old boy (Bat Mitzvah for a 12 year old girl) becomes responsible for their actions in the community and can be called on as a participating member: it's a coming of age.

At the same age, youth begin to move their online lives from avatar-based, role-playing interactions (e.g. Club Penguin, Neopets, Moshi Monsters) to self-identification and participating as themselves alongside other in the digital community: another coming of age, but a digital one.

Our digital and non-digital lives are inseparable and ignoring either is painting a picture of an incomplete person. So with the responsibility of creating new experiences for youth, we must consider both. This is why the "band of creative misfits" participating in the Youth New Media Literacy Jam includes a such a varied group: Incredibly tech-savvy digital creators alongside analog artists and makers, youth educators and entertainers and those who don't have the internet at all.

Appreciating the digital and analog sides of life, our online and offline friends and families, ourselves, and nature are important in developing as well-rounded human being. So a "Digital Bar Mitzvah" it is, but it's also so much more.